Abstract: PURPOSE: To establish the growing rabbit condylar chondrocyte culture model in vitro, and to study its biological characteristics. METHODS: Condylar cartilage was aseptically dissected from the temporomandibular joint of 4-week old New Zealand white rabbit. Chondrocytes were obtained using enzyme digestion at the interval of 4 h and 12 h. Then they were cultured in vitro and subcultivated until the 10th passage. The chondrocytes were analysed by inverted microscope, toluidine blue staining, alcian blue staining and immunocytochemical staining. Condylar chondrocytes growth curve was made with the method of cell counting. Western blot was used to analyse the expression of collagen type Ⅱ, collagen type Ⅹ and SOX9. SPSS13.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Condylar chondrocytes of rabbits were spindle-shape or polygon shape and displayed cobble-stone morphology. Following the increase of subcultures, the chondrocytes changed morphologically into fibroblast-like cells. The condylar chondrocytes staining was positive in the slides of cells, and the growth curve showed that condylar chondrocytes had a typical S shape.Western blot showed that the expression of collagen type Ⅱ, collagen type Ⅹ and SOX9 was not significantly different between condylar chondrocytes collected at 4 h and those at 12 h. CONCLUSIONS: It is a simple and effective way to culture condylar chondrocytes in vitro in this study. The results confirm that the tendency of dedifferentiation would occur after passage 3 which may lose its nature traits. The chondrocytes cultured from passage 0 to passage 2 in vitro are stable and suitable for subsequent research.

Key words: Rabbit, Condyle, Chondrocyte, Chondrocyte identification